How to Read GMX's Open Interest and Utilization Dashboards

Two numbers matter more than price when you’re deciding whether to open a position on GMX: which side of the market is already crowded, and how much room is left in the pool backing it.

This guide is part of TradeOnDEX’s GMX how-to series within Perpetual Futures, and builds directly on the fee-calculation guide.

Disclosure: TradeOnDEX may earn a commission from links to GMX on this page, at no extra cost to you. Full details at the end of this article.

Open interest: which side is crowded

Open interest is the total value of active positions on one side of a market, long or short. GMX’s own stats dashboard, and third-party dashboards built on the same on-chain data (Dune, Coinalyze, PerpFinder), break this down per market so you can see the current long/short split at a glance.

This means for you, concretely: as covered in the fee-calculation guide, the side of the market you’re about to add to directly determines whether you pay the lower 0.04% fee (reducing the imbalance) or the higher 0.06% fee plus potential negative price impact (increasing it), checking open interest before you trade isn’t just informational, it changes your actual cost.

Utilization: how much room is left

Utilization measures how much of a GM pool’s total capacity is currently committed to open positions, expressed as a percentage. A pool running near its capacity limit for a given side has less room to absorb new same-direction trades, and tends to push borrow fees on that side higher, since borrow fees scale with how heavily a pool’s capacity is being used.

This means for you, concretely: a market showing attractive price action doesn’t tell you the whole story if that market’s pool is already running high utilization on your intended side. Check utilization alongside price before assuming you’ll get filled cleanly or avoid an elevated borrow rate.

How to check both, step by step

1. Visit stats.gmx.io, GMX’s own official dashboard, and locate the per-market breakdown.
2. Compare the long open interest figure against the short open interest figure for your intended market, the gap between them is the imbalance that determines your fee tier.
3. Check the utilization percentage for that market’s GM pool, if shown, or cross-reference a community dashboard like Dune’s GMX Analytics for a deeper breakdown.
4. Reassess before entering, a market that looked balanced an hour ago can shift as other traders open and close positions.

Risk: what these dashboards don’t tell you

Open interest and utilization are snapshots, not forecasts. A currently balanced market can become imbalanced minutes after you open a position, especially during high volatility, checking once before entering doesn’t lock in that fee tier for the life of your trade if you add to the position later.

Third-party dashboards may lag or aggregate data differently from GMX’s own official source. Cross-reference figures against stats.gmx.io directly if a third-party dashboard’s numbers look surprising, rather than trusting a single aggregator by default.

High utilization on one side doesn’t necessarily mean that side is “wrong” or overcrowded in a trading sense. It’s a capacity and cost signal, not a directional prediction. Treat it as one input into your fee and execution planning, not a standalone trading signal.

These dashboards reflect GMX’s own pools specifically, not the broader market. As with any single-venue open interest figure, GMX’s numbers describe activity on GMX, not necessarily the balance of long/short positioning across the entire crypto market.

Where to check these numbers

See it for yourself

Before your next trade, check the long/short open interest split and utilization for that specific market on stats.gmx.io, comparing it against the fee tier you’d actually pay turns an abstract dashboard into a concrete cost check.

Frequently asked questions

Where’s the official place to check GMX’s open interest?

stats.gmx.io is GMX’s own official dashboard; community tools like Dune and third-party aggregators like Coinalyze and PerpFinder pull from the same underlying on-chain data but aren’t official sources.

Does high utilization mean I shouldn’t trade a market?

Not necessarily, it’s a capacity and cost signal (higher borrow fees, less room for same-direction trades), not a directional trading signal on its own.

How often does open interest change?

Continuously, as other traders open and close positions, a balanced market can become imbalanced quickly, so check close to when you actually plan to trade rather than relying on an earlier snapshot.

Is utilization the same thing as open interest imbalance?

No, open interest imbalance compares long vs. short size and determines your fee tier; utilization measures how much of a pool’s total capacity is committed, which affects borrow fees and available room for new trades.

Affiliate disclosure

TradeOnDEX may earn a commission if you sign up or trade through a link on this page, at no extra cost to you. GMX’s own affiliate/referral terms are still being confirmed for this site, so links here are direct and untracked for now. This article is educational and is not financial advice. See our disclaimer for the full risk warning.